Recommendation 4

We continue to be concerned about the Department’s understanding of asbestos within the school estate. Asbestos is a significant, and potentially dangerous, problem in many schools. We have previously found that the Department did not have a complete picture of asbestos in school buildings, or enough information to ensure that the risks were being properly managed. The Department has developed its understanding of how well asbestos is managed in schools through its asbestos management assurance process launched in March 2018 but appears unconcerned Academies Sector Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 7 that the 7% of schools yet to return their asbestos survey could be the worst affected schools without the budget to resolve this. The Department asserts that those schools yet to respond to the asbestos management survey would be picked up in the school condition survey. However, it has still not earmarked specific funding for asbestos management, or determined whether this is a barrier to schools engaging with the Department on asbestos risks. Recommendation: The Department should urgently chase the remaining 7% of schools who are yet to respond to the asbestos management survey. The Department should write to the Committee within six months setting out its full understanding of asbestos across the estate, detailing the asbestos risk arising from the non- responders, along with its plans to manage the asbestos risk in schools.